Geothermal Energy Potential Unleashed at COP20
Debates about renewable energy rarely focus on geothermal energy, despite its impressive potential. However, this may be changing: on December 8, the Geothermal Development Facility (GDF) was launched during the UN climate change talks in Lima, Peru, mobilizing $1 billion towards geothermal development across Latin America. Geothermal reservoirs are located on tectonic plate boundaries or … Read more
Colombia: las esperanzas del 2015
Los entusiastas de los diálogos recibimos con optimismo—y siempre cautela—las noticias de la última semana: la Unión Europea reconoció a Palestina como Estado, Cuba y EEUU restablecieron sus relaciones diplomáticas después de 55 años de “guerra fría,” y las Fuerzas Revolucionarias de Colombia (FARC) declararon un cese al fuego unilateral e indefinido. Decisiones audaces y … Read more
Monday Memo: Haiti – Nicaragua Canal – Oil – Petrobras Scandal – Guantánamo
This week’s likely top stories: Florence Duperval Guillaume is named Haiti’s interim prime minister; farmers set up blockades to protest the Nicaraguan canal; Saudis tell non-OPEC producers to reduce output; Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff says she will not replace Petrobras CEO; Four more prisoners are released from Guantánamo. Interim Haitian Prime Minister Named: Haitian Health … Read more
Obama Signs Venezuela Sanctions
President Obama signed a bill yesterday authorizing sanctions against Venezuelan officials accused of violating the rights of protesters in the South American country earlier this year. Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro blasted the measure, tweeting, “I reject the insolent measures taken against Venezuela by the Imperial Elite of the Unites States; Bolivar’s Fatherland is to be … Read more
U.S.–Cuba Agreement: Diplomacy At Its Best
That there would be a thaw in U.S.-Cuba relations seemed inevitable. After all, the Cold War ended with the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, and the Castro brothers are getting on in years. And yet, there is a sense that a new era is beginning with the joint Barack Obama–Raúl Castro announcement, and … Read more
FARC Declares Unilateral Ceasefire
In a statement published on one of its official websites Wednesday, the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia—FARC) declared an indefinite, unilateral cease fire and end to hostilities in Colombia, on the condition that the rebels are not attacked by government forces. The announcement was made as part of the peace … Read more
Why Jeb Bush Is a Serious Candidate
With 2014 drawing to a close, speculation will soon turn to the 2016 Presidential race in the United States. The Republicans will hold control over both houses of Congress come January, and will offer a wide array of potential candidates lining up for a White House run. With President Barack Obama leaving the White House, … Read more
Cuba Releases Alan Gross on Humanitarian Grounds
Cuba released 65-year-old former U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) contractor Alan Gross from prison today on humanitarian grounds, paving the way for normalizing relations between the U.S. and Cuba. Gross was sentenced to 15 years in prison for alleged espionage after he was arrested in December 2009 for bringing satellite equipment to Cuba. This … Read more
Paraguayan Journalist Who Reported Abuses Faces Charges
Paulo López, a Paraguayan journalist who reported being mistreated by police nearly a year ago, was arrested on Sunday upon returning to his country from Argentina for the holidays. In January 2014, police arrested López in Asunción while he reported for media outlet E’a on detained citizens who had been protesting transportation price hikes. López … Read more
Monday Memo: Colombia FARC Amnesty— Haiti Prime Minister — Argentina Railway — Venezuela PetroCaribe — U.S. Police Brutality
This week’s likely top stories: Colombians march against possible amnesty for FARC; Haitian Prime Minister Laurent Lamonthe steps down; Chinese railroad company wins $275 million in orders from Argentina; Venezuela seeks to expand PetroCaribe despite its fragile economic situation; Thousands gather across the U.S. in anti-police brutality protests. Uribe Leads Protest Against Possible FARC Amnesty: … Read more
Peña Nieto’s Plan to Tackle Economic Inequality
Mexican President Peña Nieto laid out his ten point plan to tackle injustice and corruption in the country last month as part of his response to the murder of 43 students in Iguala, Mexico. Although the plan has been derided for lacking true punch and political support, one less discussed, but significant, piece of the … Read more
Ecuadorian Lawyers take Chevron to Canadian Courts
A group of lawyers representing Ecuadorian villagers asked Canada’s Supreme Court on Thursday to try their decades-long case against Chevron in Canadian courts. The lawyers, led by primary attorney Steven Donzinger, are seeking compensation of about $9.5 billion dollars, granted by a judge in Ecuador for environmental damages in the Ecuadorian Amazon. Whether or not … Read more
Feinstein, McCain and Cheney React to CIA Torture
It has been said that the United States is capable of the best and the worst. The Senate Intelligence Committee report, with its content on CIA detention and interrogation practices after the September 11, 2001 attacks, can be construed as an expression of the dark side of the world’s oldest and most durable democracy. Making … Read more
Brazilian Truth Commission Publishes Damning Report
After more than two years of research, Brazil’s Comissão Nacional de Verdade (National Truth Comission—CNV) delivered its official report yesterday on human rights violations committed in Brazil between 1946 and 1988—with a focus on the country’s 1964 to 1985 military dictatorship. According to the report, “Under the military dictatorship, repression and the elimination of political … Read more
U.S. Senate Sanctions Venezuela on Human Rights
The U.S. Senate approved a bill on Monday that would impose sanctions on Venezuelan officials found responsible for violating demonstrators’ rights during anti-government protests that left more than 40 dead and 800 injured since February. The Venezuela Defense of Human Rights and Civil Society Act authorizes sanctions that would freeze assets and ban visas of … Read more
